God has spoken the following to me, and I pass it on to you, "The punishment of America has been decreed. It cannot be turned back. Privation and hunger are determined. America the proud will be debased. And with the church which calls itself by My name, I am especially furious. The earthly church which has cast its lot with those who cried out for the crucifixion of My Son will be burned as stubble. This is only the first punishment. Repent not, and the trumpets of Revelation will sound." (December 29, 2006)
Rick Warren and Bill Hybels: Men of God or Dangerous Hucksters?
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: ~ The Lord Jesus
We are now in the age of marketing executives posing as pastors; hucksters peddling a product which just happens to be religion. Their "churches" are not houses of worship, but huge corporate enterprises offering self-help books for a price, cappuccino delights, concerts, career success seminars, hair dressing ministries, jazzercise, weight loss programs, and a neutered gospel for today's pampered yuppie. This is "Burger King" religion, "have it your way". Hold the hell and repentance. Serve some extra feel-good platitudes while biggie sizing those fries.
Too many little pastors fall sway to big dreams of fame, power, and offering plates loaded with money. So they look to hucksters such as Warren and Hybels who feed this dream, encouraging pastors to abandon the counsel of Scripture for modern day marketing strategies. Locate your business (not church) in the right zip code. Take a survey. Market your message to your chosen demographic base; i.e. young and upscale; the cool, chic people. Many formerly sound churches are now unsound because their pastors have bought into Warren's book, The Purpose [i.e. Market] Driven Church.
The horizontally challenged Rick Warren seems to believe he can walk on water. It would appear that our false messiah devoured too many Whoppers while learning Burger King's marketing methods. (He also claims to have a fetish for Krispy Kreme donuts.)
The foolishness of so many pastors in following these hucksters leads one to the conclusion that the true commited servants of God, the so-called "laity" must stand up against this commercialization of Christianity. Our purpose is to serve Christ, not to support the dreams of little men who want the prestige of pastoring "mega-churches" and the comfort of mega-salaries.
I do want to provide a word of caution. Many of the critics of Warren and Hybels are five-point calvinists who oppose all evangelistic efforts. Others are absolute traditionalists who hate any form of contemporary music. Their excesses should be discounted. However, at the same time, the critics do offer valuable insights into the degree to which Warren and Hybels have taken religious marketing to an all-time high. For despite claims by Warren and Hybels to the contrary, their obsession with garrish marketing methods has caused them to water down their gospel message. And let it be known that we fail as servants of Christ when we present a gospel which no longer offends a sinful and depraved world.
I now offer you some insightful articles on the business hucksters of religion. (Note: Words in blue are quotes from the featured articles.):
"Chris Rosebrough, who heads the Christian Accountability Network, and authors the blogs ExtremeTheology.com and ALittleLeaven.com, is calling on Pastor Rick Warren, author of the Purpose-Driven Life to discipline media mogul, Rupert Murdoch for owning and expanding a network of pornographic channels in Europe.
Said Rosebrough, 'Rupert Murdoch is a born-again Christian and Rick Warren claims to be his pastor. As a Christian, Murdoch is committing an egregious sin by owning, expanding and profiting from pornographic channels and Rick Warren, as his pastor, has a Biblical duty to call Murdoch to repentance and/or put him out of the church.'
'Sadly, Murdoch's actions have already damaged his credibility as a Christian' said Rosebrough. 'If Pastor Warren does not act swiftly and call on Murdoch to dismantle his porn distribution network, then the credibility of the Christian message will be compromised around the globe.'
According to Rosebrough, 'This is a clear case of a Christian openly committing a monstrous and unthinkable sin. The Bible clearly states in 1 Corinthians 5 that when a Christian brother is openly and unrepentantly engaging in sins of this magnitude the church must discipline that person. As his Pastor, Rick Warren has a Biblical duty to call Murdoch to repentance for this sin and/or put him out of the church.'
Some speculate that the reason that Warren hasn't already acted on this is because Murdoch's News Corp owns Zondervan, the company that published Warren's run away best seller The Purpose-Driven Life. Said Rosebrough, 'Warren and Zondervan are currently working on an updated and revised edition of the Purpose Driven Church. That book is scheduled to be released later this year. We hope that Warren's business ties to Murdoch's company haven't clouded his judgement and impacted his resolve to carry out his Biblical duty as Murdoch's Pastor.'
Research Links
Warren stating that he is Murdoch's pastor. www.pastors.com
Business Journal Article that chronicles the expansion of Murdoch's porn channels www.thebusinessonline.com
"The problem is that the user-friendly gospel is giving people false assurance. MacArthur explains, 'People are breezing through those wide, comfortable, inviting gates with all their baggage, their self-needs, their self-esteem, and their desire for fulfillment and self-satisfaction. And the most horrible thing about it is they think they’re going to heaven' (MacArthur: 13). Warren skips many things, including the blood atonement, the doctrine of justification, the wrath of God against sin, a clear presentation of the person and work of Christ, and the need for repentance as part of the gospel. He replaces all these things with a personal journey to find one’s purpose. No wonder millions are entering the broad gate that he offers." Read More.
"What's worse is when seeker-focused churches baptize the masses with their watered-down gospel, assuring them that positive decisions, feelings, or affirmations about Christ equal genuine conversion. There are now multitudes who are not authentic Christians identifying with the church. The church is literally invaded with the world's values, the world's interests, and the world's citizens. It isn't an invasion prompted by overt hostility; people are simply responding to a survey that came in the mail. Ironically, Satan isn't sowing the tares; church leaders are." ~ John MacArthur.
"The 'church growth movement' is about growing churches and budgets instead of Christians. It is 'seeker-sensitive' because it is not God sensitive. It focuses on 'felt needs' instead of spiritual needs. So, rather than equipping saints to go out into the world to rescue the lost from a culture of death they employ the culture's own singers, celebrities and salesmen to seduce them into their apostasy by marketing a gospel of gratification. It is the harlotry of hedonism and the very antithesis of all that is holy." ~ Paul Proctor
Rick Warren regards older members of the congregation as disposable. He said, "Be willing to let people leave the church. And I told you earlier the fact that people are gonna leave the church no matter what you do. But when you define the vision, you're choosing who leaves. You say, 'But Rick, yes, they're the pillars of the church.' Now, you know what pillars are. Pillars are people who hold things up ... And in your church, you may have to have some blessed subtractions before you have any real additions." Read more about Rick Warren's Machiavellian approach to church growth.
Mr. Burger King even sold out Christ for 30 shekels of silver:
"Other evangelical Christians have likewise exchanged evangelism for dialogue. Another megachurch pastor, Rick Warren, of Saddleback Church in Southern California, spoke this past June 16 at Sinai Temple, a Jewish synagogue, during “Friday Night Live Shabbat services.” According to Rob Eshman, the editor-in-chief of The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles: “Warren managed to speak for the entire evening without once mentioning Jesus - a testament to his savvy message-tailoring.” Warren also told Ron Wolfson, the Rabbi who invited him, that “his interest is in helping all houses of worship, not in converting Jews.” And Hagee and Warren are supposed to be evangelicals? Read more about Warren, Hagee and the judeo-christian warmongers.
As well as selling out to the Jews, Rick Warren has proposed a global "peace plan" which makes one wonder if his "Purpose Driven" church is a branch of the great whore of Babylon, the end-time Jewish-led apostasy. Read More.
"In 1979, in what staff members refer to as the 'train wreck': a founding Willow Creek staff member was caught in adultery. In response to this crisis, Hybels began to teach and preach about sin. However, a staff member recounted that this emphasis seemed to promote a somber spirit and destroyed what had been the optimistic atmosphere in the services. Pritchard notes that this change was 'a relatively short term shift' (Pritchard, p. 42). Now, however, rather than Schuller's self-esteem message being promoted as the bait, the bait is rather 'personal fulfillment.' We rejoice that the pure Schullerian heresy (the re-definition of sin) was abandoned. Nevertheless, at Willow Creek, sin is still minimized and marginalized. Hybel's teaching exhibits a strong reliance on psychological categories, not as strongly as Schuller's, but still very real. The terminology is also different; while Schuller emphasizes 'self-esteem,' Hybels stresses 'personal fulfillment' and 'user friendly doctrine'." Read More.
"AFTER PERSONALLY covering the Saddleback Community Church 'Building a Purpose-Driven Church' seminar held in Southern California this past January, it became clear to me that some of today's most influential religious leaders misunderstand and misrepresent the true purpose of the church today. Dr. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church and director of the 'Building a Purpose-Driven Church' workshops, has influenced thousands of churches during the last decade that are interested in the 'Church Growth Movement'. Without doubt, every church in the United States must give, or has already had to give, an answer to the strategies of building a superchurch. Sadly, many have already jumped on board. The possibility of dynamic growth for struggling churches, especially old-fashioned, Bible-believing, Bible-preaching fundamental churches, is tremendously appealing. However, it is imperative to ask this question: 'What actually must be done in order to accomplish dynamic church growth?' We must warn about Rick Warren's unbiblical answer to that question." Read More.
"The Consumer is King - The premise of all marketing is that the consumer must be pleased; he must be kept happy; he must be given what he needs, or has been programmed to think he needs, if we are to succeed. This premise works very well for say, McDonald's, but can it be adopted by the church? Certainly it can, but is not the church, and more importantly, the gospel message, altered and distorted in the process? Listen to these words by Wells, 'The fact is that while we may be able to market the church, we cannot market Christ, the gospel, Christian character, or meaning in life. The church can offer handy childcare to weary parents, intellectual stimulation to the restless video generation, a feeling of family to the lonely and dispossessed -- and, indeed, lots of people come to churches for these reasons. But neither Christ nor his truth can be marketed by appealing to consumer interest, because the premise of all marketing is that the consumer's need is sovereign, that the customer is always right and this is precisely what the gospel insists cannot be the case.'" Read More.
Luke 22:36 Then said He [the Lord Jesus] unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
The Lord so commanded. Therefore, do not argue. Every Christian man, and even woman, should own a gun and know how to use it. Gun control laws do not matter. In Christ's day, the Romans made it illegal for subject peoples to own swords. But, yet, Christ commanded His followers to be prepared for their own self-defense. And it is He Who must be obeyed, not man.
Are you a ready to fight for Christian Civilization?
Their "churches" are not houses of worship, but huge corporate enterprises offering self-help books for a price, cappuccino delights, concerts, career success seminars, hair dressing ministries, jazzercise, weight loss programs, and a neutered gospel for today's pampered yuppie. This is "Burger King" religion, "have it your way". Hold the hell and repentance. Serve some extra feel-good platitudes while biggie sizing those fries.
Too many little pastors fall sway to big dreams of fame, power, and offering plates loaded with money. So they look to hucksters such as Warren and Hybels who feed this dream, encouraging pastors to abandon the counsel of Scripture for modern day marketing strategies. Locate your business (not church) in the right zip code. Take a survey. Market your message to your chosen demographic base; i.e. young and upscale; the cool, chic people. Many formerly sound churches are now unsound because their pastors have bought into Warren's book, The Purpose [i.e. Market] Driven Church.
The horizontally challenged Rick Warren seems to believe he can walk on water. It would appear that our false messiah devoured too many Whoppers while learning Burger King's marketing methods. (He also claims to have a fetish for Krispy Kreme donuts.)